Configuration
EC-Engineer Web creates an EtherCAT® Network Information (ENI) file which is based on EtherCAT® Slave Information (ESI) files. The ENI file is used for parametrization of the EtherCAT® Master.
A web browser with HTML5 and JavaScript support is enough to show and control EC-Engineer Web. There is no installation needed for the frontend, so a tablet or smartphone can also be used to configure or analyze an EtherCAT® network. EC-Engineer Web is also available as a desktop application on Linux PCs.
Architectures
The modular software approach allows for several system architectures.
Offline and Online configuration (all components on one device)
User interface on a separate device
EtherCAT Master on separate device
Diagnosis
Extensive diagnosis functions are available to help to analyze and solve problems in EtherCAT® networks. In this mode, EC-Engineer Web receives all necessary information from the EtherCAT® Master.
For Masters running acontis’ EC-Master, the integrated communication protocol known as RAS enables the connection to EC-Engineer Web. For Masters not running EC-Master, the recently released Mailbox Gateway (ETG.8200) enables the connection to EC-Engineer Web, like for Beckhoff TwinCAT systems. With the Mailbox Gateway EC-Engineer Web is a completely master-independent EtherCAT diagnostic tool.
EC-Engineer Web Software Development Kit (SDK)
Using the available SDK all (or just a subset) of the EC-Engineer Web features can be integrated into another engineering application. Brand labeling and other customer specific enhancements can be achieved as well. All EC-Engineer core software components and modules are available for Windows and Linux. The user interface layers are based on the Microsoft® ASP .NET Core Angular project.